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Csonka’s WWE Payback Review 4.30.17
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Csonka’s WWE Payback Review 4.30.17
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Kickoff Show Match: Enzo Amore and Big Cass defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson @ 6:45 via pin [**]
– US Title Match: Chris Jericho defeated Champion Kevin Owens @ 14:10 via submission [***½]
– Cruiserweight Title Match: Austin Aries defeated Champion Neville @ 11:30 via DQ [***]
– Raw Tag Team Title Match: Champions Matt and Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus and Cesaro @ 12:50 via pin [***]
– Raw Women’s Title Match: Alexa Bliss defeated Champion Bayley @ 11:25 via pin [***]
– House of Horrors Match: Bray Wyatt defeated Randy Orton @ 16:55 via pin [DUD]
– Seth Rollins defeated Samoa Joe @ 15:55 via pin [**½]
– Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns @ 11:45 via pin [***¾]
– Enzo & Cass are out and do their usual shtick, with a Chinese food theme to it.
Kickoff Show Match: Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson: Enzo attacked right away, looking for some revenge for the attack on Raw. Anderson quickly cut him off and tagged in Gallows. They beat him down, attacking the arm and utilizing quick tags; Gallows hit divorce court and we took a break. Post break, and Gallows continues the heat on Enzo, until he hits a desperation DDT. Anderson cut off the hot tag, he misses a shoulder block, but Gallows pulls Cass to the floor. Enzo uses his speed and finally makes the tag. Cass with shoulder blocks, clotheslines and a corner splash running wild. He hits two more corner splashes, Anderson makes the save and sends Enzo to the floor. Anderson rolls him back in, magic killer attempt cut off by Cass and Enzo rolls up Gallows for the win. Enzo Amore and Big Cass defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson @ 6:45 via pin [**] This was a rock solid little opener, they didn’t get much time due to the commercial break, but they work well enough together that it was entertaining.
– The Hardys gameplan backstage, and meet with The Golden Truth. They want to challenge the winners to a tag title match.
– Sheamus and Cesaro join Charly’s leg show in the social media lounge.
Miz TV: Miz & Maryse are out for Miz TV. Finn Balor is the guest. Miz complains that Balor’s entrance was too long and that he has a schedule to keep. Balor explains to Miz that the rowdy fans are the Balor club. Miz asks if he and Maryse could join, but Balor says that is a club decision, and the crowd boos. Maryse gets up and gives us a saucy walk, but Balor says they can’t be in the club. Miz claims he knows all about Balor, noting that he HAD so much promise; everywhere he went, he was a champion. Miz puts over Balor as a first round draft pick, and then asks if he feels like a failure after this last year. Balor runs down his laundry list of injuries and the fact that he fought through them and won the universal title. Miz doesn’t care, and says Balor represents an entire club of failures. Miz says he’s too small and fights with his heart, and while he was gone, Miz carried Smackdown as the IC Champion. Balor says he’ll be getting his title back, and Miz reminds him that Lesnar is the champion now. Miz claims Lesnar will break him in half, and that even he can break him. Balor threatens to kick his ass, but Miz puts Maryse between them. Balor says it isn’t worth kicking Miz’s ass, and MiZ gets pissed. Balor lays him out with sling blade and the shotgun dropkick. Balor did well there (better than expected as his mic work has not been his strong suit thus far in WWE), playing well off of Miz being a great protagonist. If they don’t get added to the card tonight, this could be a good feud for Balor until they decide on his next step.
– We get the opening video package.
US Title Match: Champion Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho is sporting a light up scarf tonight. Owens tried to stall at the bell, but Jericho cut him off and brought him back in, hitting a dropkick. Jericho then hit an elbow off the top to a standing Owens, and the bulldog followed. Owens bailed to the apron to avoid the lionsault; Owens then cut off Jericho, sending him to the floor and hitting the cannonball against the barricade. Good opening stretch, with both men showing their aggression well to play off of their issues. Owens slowed the pace, hitting knee strikes and a neck breaker before going back to the chinlock. Jericho managed a roll up, but Owens kicked out and leveled Jericho with a lariat. Owens is dominating, working over Jericho with strikes and elbows before hitting a DDT for the near fall. Owens again keeps Jericho grounded, working the chinlock. Jericho eventually counters a corner splash, but as he fires up he misses a corner splash and flies to the floor. Back in and Jericho hits a boot and chops, but gets sent to the apron. He heads up top and hits the double sledge off the top and looks for the walls, but Owens stops that but walks into an enziguri. Jericho lays in some rapid-fire chops, but runs into a superkick, which got a near fall for Owens. They work back and forth, Owens blocked the lionsault and then hit the cannonball for 2. Jericho then counters the pop up powerbomb into a RANA and then the walls. Owens again makes the ropes, using one finger in a throwback o the Mania match; Jericho then stomps away at the hand of Owens and then slams it to the steps. Jericho traps Owens’ arm on the steps and then kicks the steps. Owens pokes the eyes, and gets a roll up for 2. Jericho counters the pop up powerbomb due to the injured hand, Jericho locks in the walls, and Owens has to tap. Chris Jericho defeated Champion Kevin Owens @ 14:10 via submission [***½] Chris Jericho wins the title and also heads to Smackdown with tonight’s victory. The move doesn’t make the most sense to me right now, especially considering Owens just kicked off the new gimmick as the face of America. I just hope they don’t switch it back on Tuesday night unless there is a major beat down angle to write out Jericho. With that being said, the match was very good; spirited beginning, good heat by Owens and a good comeback and revenge finish for Jericho. I also LOVED that the attack on the hand played directly into the finish, with Owens not being able to extend the arm and get the ropes one last time.
Cruiserweight Title Match: Champion Neville vs. Austin Aries: Good back and forth to kick things off, with both guys coming off as more aggressive (in a good way) than usual. Aries then hits a series of arm drags, and then reminds Neville that you can’t head scissors Austin Aries. Aries then takes Neville to the floor, hits a dive and then back in heads up top but Neville hits the dropkick to send Aries back to the mat. Neville then takes control, and he’s not in a good mood as he punishes Aries. The missile dropkick follows; Neville’s offense is so great when he takes the heat, ultra aggressive, crisp and he never gets out of control. Aries slowly makes a comeback, sends Neville to the floor as he celebrated in the ropes and they traded strikes. Newville counters the suplex, but Aries fires back with chops and the pendulum elbow. The elbow to the back by Aries connects for 2. Aries pulls Neville to his feet, but Neville grabs the hair to try and stop the momentum of Aries; Aries sends him to the floor, and hits the heat-seeking missile. Back in the ring and that leads to a near fall. Neville fights off the last chancery, but Aries drops him with an elbow strike. Neville misses the kick and eats a shin breaker/German suplex combo. Aries up top, Neville over and Aries then plants him with a sunset bomb and transitions into the last chancery. Neville fights, grabs at the ref and uses him to break the hold, leading to a DQ. Austin Aries defeated Champion Neville @ 11:30 via DQ [***] Neville retains via DQ as many predicted, which keeps the feud going. Best guess is that they’re next match will have some sort of stipulation, possibly I Quit or No DQ, to play off of this finish and the established feud. I am not a huge fan of that finish (although I understand it), but this was a good match overall; they work well together, but I’d love to see then be able to go full bore for 12-15 minutes.
Raw Tag Team Title Match: Champions Matt and Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus and Cesaro: Matt & Cesaro started things off as we got big Brother Nero & Obsolete chants. The Hardys work quick tags, focusing on the taped up shoulder of Cesaro. Sheamus tags in and hits the Finlay roll on Matt, before tagging Cesaro back in. They isolate Matt in their corner, work quick tags and work him over. Matt counters a slam, tags in Jeff and he hits the clothesline, jawbreaker, dropkick combo and then a splash for 2. Sheamus then flings Jeff to the floor with ease and cruel intentions. Sheamus then grounds Jeff, kicks him in the fucking face (knocking a tooth out according to commentary) and then tags in Cesaro. Sheamus & Cesaro are using such basic, but quality tag work and I appreciate that so much. Quick tags, working the count, keeping Jeff isolated; very Revival like. Jeff manages to wipe them out with whisper in the wind, and then gets the hot tag to Matt. Matt fires up with rights and head butts. The corner clothesline and bulldog follow for 2. Matt then hits an elbow off the ropes, and follows with the side effect for 2. It breaks down, and Jeff takes out Cesaro on the floor. Back in and Matt MISSES a moonsault, allowing Cesaro to hit the spinning uppercut. Cesaro works the swing, locks in the sharp shooter as Sheamus takes out Jeff on the floor. Cesaro cuts off Matt with an uppercut, Sheamus hits white noise off of the second rope but Jeff manages to make the save. Cesaro catches Jeff on the floor, but Jeff takes him out and over the barricade. Matt avoids the brogue kick, but Sheamus avoids the twist of fate; Jeff blind tags in and hits the swanton and the champions retain. Champions Matt and Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus and Cesaro @ 12:50 via pin [***¼] I loved the post match beat down; it was needed because while Sheamus and Cesaro are fun, they are better with an edge. It also worked well with the respectful babyfaces lose again and finally snap. The hits keep on coming with another quality match; Sheamus and Cesaro played the heel role in terms of taking the heat and controlling very well with the Hardys playing the resilient babyfaces as good as ever. Another good match.
– They shake hands post match, and are all friends… for now. But as the champions celebrated, Sheamus and Cesaro returned and attacked, repeatedly slamming the Hardys to the posts. It would be a shame if someone were to be… broken there.
Raw Women’s Title Match: Champion Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss: Bliss has some Iron Heart themed gear tonight. They had a rowdy crowd to play off of, and put on a nice back and forth beginning with Bliss getting frustrated and bailing to the floor. Bayley followed and attacked, rolled her back in and worked her over in the corner. Bliss then cut off Bayley with a stiff forearm, and that allowed Bliss to ground her and take the heat. Not only is Bliss beating her down, but she’s completely mocking Bayley while doing so. Bliss excels at the personality aspects of her game, no one really does that part as well as she does with he trash talk, facial expressions and general body language. But it was a bit too much, allowing Bayley to battle back and send her to the buckles. Bayley takes control, hits the suplex and sliding clothesline. Saito suplex by Bayley, and the cover gets 2. Bayley then hit the spinning elbow off the ropes, but Bliss counters Bayley to belly and slams her to the buckles. Bliss up top, but Bayley fights her off and follows her up. Bayley teases the Bayley to belly, but Bliss shoves her off and drops down, hitting the code red for 2. Bliss hits the double knees, but Bayley hits a running knee strike and then hits the top rope elbow drop for 2. Bliss slaps Bayley, they brawl in the ropes and Bayley lays the boots to her. Bayley then counters the code red and sits down into a cover, but Bliss kicks out and sends her to the post. Bliss talks trash, allowing Bayley to roll her up for 2. Bliss then hits a DDT and wins the title as the WWE hometown curse bites Bayley in the ass. Alexa Bliss defeated Champion Bayley @ 11:25 via pin [***] For as great as Bliss’ character & personality work are, she still has some issues with her work, such as basic timing and also bumping before she needs to. It’s not so bad that it ruins matches, and isn’t super noticeable unless you really look for it, but it’s only fair to point out her good and bad. The good news was that this was another good match, with Bliss winning by nefarious means, and the finish playing well off of the post spot.
House of Horrors Match: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt: Orton arrives at the House o Horrors in a limo, and is actually wearing pants. Orton breaks into the house, we get spook effects, and Bray then attack and they brawl. Bray makes the mistake every villain makes, monologuing as he fights. Bray actually reaches through a wall at one point and goozles Orton before we see a creepy room, with dolls hanging from the ceiling. Orton makes his way to the dining room and spills all of the snacks Bray set out for him, how rude. Into the kitchen they go, where the dishes hadn’t been done in ages; they brawl and that won’t help with the cleanliness of the kitchen area. Bray low blows Orton before he can hit him with a skillet. Bray then slams the fridge onto Orton and screams a whole lot for dramatic effect, leaves the house and poses outside. The house is now filled with red light, which may be Orton’s kryptonite; Bray steals him limo and heads to the arena… as Bray sings to himself. He sounds completely gassed, thankfully this was a pre-tape… (That took up 12-minutes)
Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins: Joe takes control right away, but it didn’t last long as Rollins sent him to the floor and followed with a plancha. They brawled to the floor, with Rollins hitting a pair of suicide dives. Once back in the ring, Joe immediately attacked the knee and then hit the elbow suicida. Joe just went straight up savage, looking to destroy the knee by using his size advantage. They are working really hard here, great aggressive work by Joe and Rollins playing never say die face but the crowd feels checked out after the house of horrors segment; Joe works a knee bar, but Rollins manages to get the ropes. Joe talks smack, telling Rollins that he put this on himself. Joe then hits the powerbomb, into the crab and then into the cloverleaf but Rollins makes the ropes. He slowly makes his comeback, hitting sling blade. The blockbuster follows, and that got 2 for Rollins. Rollins hit a superkick to a kneeling Joe, but the cover only got 2. Joe up top, Rollins looks for the powerbomb, but Joe escapes; Rollins hits the falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL). Rollins up top, hits the high fly flow and that gets 2. They traded strikes, Joe started to unload but Rollins stopped that with a head kick. Joe locked in the sleeper, looked for the clutch but Rollins did the kick out of the corner counter for the near fall. Joe then locked in the clutch, but Rollins cradled him and scored the pin. Seth Rollins defeated Samoa Joe @ 15:55 via pin [**½] They had to work really hard to get the crowd into it after the house of horrors segment, but they largely did well. It was frustrating to see so much attention paid to the knee only for it not to play into things much at all. The finished worked for me (in terms of protecting Joe), because Joe was more concerned with hurting Rollins than beating him, allowing Rollins to sneak out the victory. This was an overall average and disappointing match.
House of Horrors Match: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt II – Electric Boogaloo: Bray arrives at the arena, still coughing like he has lung cancer. Bray blows out the lantern, but when the lights come back on, HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER’S RANDY! He attacked as they brawled to the floor. Orton controlled but The Singh Brothers (Bollywood Boyz) arrived and attacked Orton. Orton hit the RKO, but Mahal is here and lays out Orton with the WWE Title. Mahal hits him again; Bray hits sister Abigail to win. Bray Wyatt defeated Randy Orton @ 16:55 via pin [DUD] The thing that made the Broken/Final Deletion stuff work was that it never took itself too seriously; it was campy, absurd and embraced those traits. The house of horrors portion felt way too serious, like WWE Studios was trying to make another straight to DVD movie. As a match this was no good, but as a storytelling device to get some heat on Mahal ahead of his title match with Orton (and allow Bray to “win the feud”) it worked.
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman: Reigns arrived with his shoulder all taped up. Reigns attacked right away, sending BRAUN to the floor and hitting a clothesline off of the steps. Reigns teased a dive, went to the floor and BRAUN tossed him into the barricade. He then chokeslammed Reigns onto the announce table. Big mixed chants for Reigns as BRAUN works him over in the corner. BRAUN then posts Reigns’ bad shoulder and then slams him against the steps. BRAUN is completely mauling Reigns at this point, hitting knee strikes and a lariat for 2. BRAUN then works a grounded bear hug, attacking the injured ribs. Reigns then sidesteps a corner charge, and fires back with clotheslines, follows with rights and then manages a Samoan drop for 2. They then topple to the floor, but Reigns hits the drive by kick. Reigns charges, caught, but counters out and posts BRAUN. Reigns then hits the desperation spear for the near fall. BRAUN then attacks the shoulder, but Reigns hits the superman punch and another. BRAUN then catches Reigns in the head and arm choke, and then the running powerslam for 2; BRAUN is shocked. BRAUN pulls Reigns to his feet, hits another running powerslam and BRAUN wins. Roman Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns @ 11:45 via pin [***¾] Very good main event, with BRAUN winning in a clean and decisive manner. It also had more heat than just about anything on the show. We all know that the end game is BRAUN being built up as a killer to put Reigns over in the end, but I do feel that it won’t kill him when that happens due to how much credibility they’ve given BRAUN.
– Post match, BRAUN tosses the steps into the ring and looks to end Reigns. He sets them up to “thank you Strowman” chants and slams reigns onto them. BRAUN then slams the steps onto the ribs of reigns and the monster stands tall. Reigns bites the blood capsule to simulate internal bleeding. More thank you chants for BRAUN.
– After the show, BRAUN tries to attack, misses and rips off an ambulance door, Reigns then slams the other door onto him repeatedly and BRAUN bails.
“Mama says these my magic shoes. Mama said they would take me anywhere…”
